Inkscape (self-painting) is an open source vector graphics editing software, very similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, Xara X and other software, it uses W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format, supports including shapes, paths, SVG features such as text, markup, cloning, alpha blending, transformations, gradients, patterns, combinations, etc. It also supports creation of common metadata, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text around paths, flowing text, direct editing of XML, etc. It can import JPEG, PNG, TIFF and other formats, and output to PNG and multiple vector formats.
Inkscape 1.0 RC is now available and contains more than 100 major and minor improvements and bug fixes since version 0.92.4. The official said that if there are no major problems found in the candidate version, the version will be released as a stable release of Inkscape 1.0 within a few weeks.
Some of the main points of the new version are as follows:
- Theme support and more new customization options
- Better HiDPI (high resolution) screen support
- MacOS native support with signed and notarized .dmg files
- Coordinate origin in the upper left corner by default
- Canvas rotation and mirroring
- Objects are aligned on the canvas
- Split view and X-ray mode
- PowerPencil is used to draw editable variable-width strokes using a pressure-sensitive graphics tablet
- New PNG export options
- Integrated centerline tracking, vectorization of line graphs
- Searchable Symbol Dialog
- New real-time path effect (LPE) selection dialog
- New corners (rounded corners / chamfers) LPE, (lossless) Boolean LPE, offset LPE and measurement line LPE (and more!)
- Path operations, unselection of a large number of paths, and grouping / ungrouping are now much faster
- Greatly improved text line height setting
- Supports variable fonts (only when compiling with Pango library version> = 1.41.1)
- Browser compatible streaming text
- The extension programming interface has been updated with many new options-Note: This introduces major changes and some third-party extensions must be updated to work with Inkscape 1.0
- Python 3 extended support
Please refer to the release notes for more details and download addresses .